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Alison Andrews-Paul hopes her first competitive appearance in New Zealand for six-and-a-half years at the Daikin Night of 5s can act as the catalyst for her ambitions to make the 2023 World Athletics Championships team in Budapest.

The Canadian-based Kiwi – who last year improved her 800m PB by a seismic five seconds to run a best of 2:01.43 – is currently enjoying her first trip home post-pandemic and is making the most of the opportunity by squeezing in an 800m race at AUT Millennium before she returns to British Columbia in the new year.

Based in North America for the past six years, where she graduated from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby in August, her last domestic race came in June 2016 when running a mixed 800m in her hometown of Masterton in the Wairarapa.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve run in New Zealand, I can’t wait to compete again at home,” explains Alison. “I’ve never run the Night of 5s before, but it is always something that has interested me. The photos from the meet look awesome and the timing works well for me.”

Alison competed for New Zealand at the 2016 World U20 Championships in Poland, before heading Stateside to study at Baylor University in Texas and later Simon Fraser University in Canada to complete a masters degree in public health. However, for much of her time in North America she had fallen short of meeting her athletics ambitions as injury, a bout of glandular fever and other factors acted a handbrake.

But last year under the coaching of SFU-based coach Brit Townsend, who finished seventh in the 1500m final at the 1984 Los Angles Olympic Games, everything come together beautifully as she slashed almost five seconds from her 800m PB to run a breakout 2:01.43 in Azuza, USA to climb to fifth on the all-time New Zealand rankings.

It was no fluke. Earlier in the year she had romped to the NCAA Division II Indoor 800m title (Simon Fraser is the only Canadian university part of the US NCAA system) and she finished her year running a swift 2:02.56 in Edmonton, Canada.

“To run 2:04 indoors felt like a big leap forward for me,” she says. “And then to run even faster outdoors and maintain that consistency, if felt like a really great season for me.”

Since graduating it has been all change for the 24-year-old, who has remained in Burnaby and taken on a full-time job as a project manager for a company in senior care. Working 40 hours a week marks a significant change for Alison but with supportive employers she racks up a weekly mileage of 40-45 miles and trains two mornings each week at 9.30am with her coach, Brit, and the SFU squad.

Unsure of her current fitness, predications for the Night of 5s are hard to make and she says: “I don’t think I’ve had a special fall (training) compared to last year where I saw a big improvement,” she explains. “But I think overall I’ve been consistent, and I’d say my longer work has improved. 

“It is still very early in the season for me, so I’m not putting any pressure on myself,” she adds. “It will be nice to be part of the New Zealand athletics community and see a few familiar faces.  I don’t really know where my speed is at, so I hope to manage the first lap well and really get after it on the second lap.”

Returning back to Canada in early January she hopes to compete in one or two indoor races before returning to Aotearoa late-February for a crack at the Jennian Homes New Zealand Track & Field Championships in Newtown Park, Wellington – a competition which will represent a homecoming of sorts for the girl from the Wairarapa.

“I grew up in Masterton, so spent a lot of time competing at Newtown Park,” explains Alison, whose dad, Wayne Paul is a former two-time Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles representative for New Zealand. “I won my New Zealand secondary schools title there, so it is a venue that means a lot to me.”

Competing at her first New Zealand Track & Field Championships for seven years excites the two-lap specialist, and she hopes to use the event as a barometer for where she is currently placed domestically and also to garner world ranking points on the road for a possible place on the team for the World Athletics Championships.

“I would definitely love to be a part of the World Championship team,” she adds. “I understand that making that step to the next level will not be easy, but I know there is more there, although how much more is hard to say. All I know is that I’m focused on running fast.”